ARTICLES ABOUT STADIUM BY DATE - PAGE 4

LOS ANGELES - Marlins' fans on Monday learned their team would be without staff ace Jose Fernandez during the foreseeable future. Once the game started at Dodger Stadium, Tom Koehler offered them no reassurance the rotation would be fine without him. Koehler lost leads of 1-0 and 3-1, and lasted just 3 2/3 innings in the series-opening 6-5 loss at Chavez Ravine. He did come away with one inauspicious achievement. Koehler became the only starter in club history to total more than 100 pitches without completing at least four innings.

Talks about building a new Major League Baseball spring training stadium now center on a proposed West Palm Beach site, but the public costs remain a hurdle to striking a deal. The Palm Beach County Commission in March agreed to pursue talks with the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals about a potential deal that would include building a $100 million stadium and training facility that could host both teams for spring training. On Tuesday, team representatives and local officials met to discuss the hunt for a potential stadium location and how to pay for it. The group included Astros owners Jim Crane as well as West Palm Beach and county officials.

Since starting the season with a .081 average (3-for-37), Jeff Baker opened the week 10 for his last 25 (.400) with a double and three RBI. Baker in Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Padres cut the Marlins' deficit to two with a one-out, two-run triple off Joaquin Benoit. Among National League hitters with a minimum of 25 plate appearances, Baker's .400 average since April 29 ranks seventh. In seven games (five starts) since then, Baker has raised his slash line from .081/.200/.108 to .210/.271/.355.

Retired soccer icon David Beckham received a potential financial boost Friday in his plans to establish a Major league Soccer team in Miami through passage in the Florida Legislature of a bill to provide annual sales tax rebates for stadium construction. The bill (HB 7095), which passed the House by an 89-27 vote, would provide $7 million next year that MLS expansion teams in Miami and Orlando could tap into along with the Daytona International Speedway, which is undergoing renovations.

This wasn't the typical spring game by any stretch of the imagination. Miami played on a shortened field. Several of its biggest playmakers watched from the sidelines while recovering from various injuries and on one side of the field, there was a carnival-like setting that featured mannequins sporting the Hurricanes' new uniforms and a bounce house. There was football of course, with Miami's defense picking up a 61-60 win over the offense in the scoring system coaches used during what was ultimately a controlled scrimmage.

Your March 20 editorial, "Ross' proposal for Sun Life a true win-win," misstates my position concerning the proposal by Stephen Ross to Miami-Dade County. First, what I stated was that it was a better proposal than what was made previously — a step in the right direction. This is hardly an endorsement. I am as opposed today as I have always been to corporate welfare, whether it be in Miami-Dade or Broward County . Norman Braman, Miami

1:05 p.m., Champion Stadium, Kissimmee. On the mound RHP Nathan Eovaldi vs. RHP Julio Teheran. On the air TV: None. Radio: None. Tuesday's game: Down 3-0 after one and 5-2 through three and a half, the Miami Marlins came from behind to beat the Cardinals 6-5 at Roger Dean Stadium. In the seventh, Juan Diaz hit a game-tying two-run homer off Seth Maness and Marcell Ozuna knocked in the go-ahead run with a double. Making his final Grapefruit League appearance, Jose Fernandez struggled to stay in the zone.

David Beckham has a beautiful vision for soccer on the waterfront of Miami. Now the retired British soccer icon must convince Miami-Dade County officials that his plan to build a showpiece stadium for his unnamed Major League Soccer franchise on prime property in Port Miami would be an asset to the community. "It's David's passion to bring an unparalleled soccer experience to Miami," John Alschuler, Beckham's New York-based real-estate advisor said Monday in unveiling plans for a privately funded 25,000-seat stadium as a centerpiece to a complex that would include a public plaza and commercial development at the Southwest corner of the port on Dodge Island.

Call it the Loria Syndrome. Whenever a sports owner proposes a stadium deal it becomes a competitive fight among the bloodthirsty cynics (yeah, me, too) to immediately shout how, why and where it won't work. So it was loud again this week. It was expected. It was fallout that keeps on falling from, most recently, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria's swindle of public money in his stadium deal. Dolphins owner Steve Ross proposed a fair stadium deal that should work for everyone with some tinkering.